Pause Stirs Concern That Growth In Productivity May Be Flattening: Nonfarm-labor productivity, a measure of the average worker's output per hour, was flat in 3Q compared with the previous quarter, down from 1.2% annualized growth rate in 2Q'06. Productivity was up 1.3% vs. last year, less than half the blazing 2.8% average rate of the past decade -- a phenomenal surge that has helped economic growth in the U.S. outpace other developed nations. Over the past five years, U.S. productivity has risen at 3.1% a year. 

Tech Firms Woo 'Next Billion Users': Intel plans to spend $1 billion over five years to improve Internet access in developing countries and train teachers how to use technology. Motorola is making mobile phones priced under $30 for people in emerging markets. Microsoft helping setting up Internet kiosks in rural areas. AMD and Quanta have joined One Laptop Per Child project to make laptop PCs for $100. China's more than 400 million cellphone subscribers and 123 million Internet users account for much of its middle and upper classes. Intel has helped train 700,000 teachers in China and more than 600,000 in India on how to use technology in the classroom.

Federal Censorship Commission?: Two-thirds of TV households do not have children under 18. With more than 50% of homes having Internet access and 85% subscribing to cable and satellite services, the media choice is staggering. The average home receives 100 TV channels. The math: 85% of households have cable and satellite, leaving 15% receiving broadcast TV only. Two-thirds of those households do not have kids under 18. Thus, the FCC appears to be basing its actions on a policy that is relevant to 5% of households. 

YouTube Finds Signing Rights Deals Complex, Frustrating: Bernstein Research estimates that about 15% of YouTube's 100 most popular videos are video material edited to music tracks. Bernstein Research also estimates that about 60% of the 100 most popular YouTube videos contain commercial music or video. Once publishing deals are negotiated, publishers are likely to be paid around 10% to 15% of the share of advertising revenue set aside for content owners, according to people in the music industry. 

TechCrunch Site Makes Arrington A Power Broker: TechCrunch had about a million global page views in September, compared with 13 million for CNET News, according to comScore Networks. TechCrunch brings in about $120,000 in revenue a month, mostly from ads, sponsorships, an online job-posting service and the parties it holds. RSS subscribers to TechCrunch blog has grown to 133,000, according to the site. Online-software company Devshop, Inc., says the positive article TechCrunch wrote about the company in April got the  site about 10,000 visitors in 24 hours, up from a mere 20 or 30 the day before.

Money Funds Add $11.64 Billion: Money-market mutual-fund assets increased by $11.64 billion to $2.265 trillion for the week ended Wednesday 11/1, according to the Investment Company Institute. Assets of the 879 retail-class shares increased by $4.31 billion to $937.63 billion, the institute said. Assets of the 1,139 institutional-class shares increased by $7.33 billion to $1.328 trillion. 

Chinese Jam Parkson's Aisles: China, the world's fastest-growing economy has just 1.75 department stores per million people -- a fraction of the comparable figures in Western countries. Chinese shopping patterns at the moment correspond roughly to U.S. shopping habits in the 1970s, when Americans started moving away from "mom and pop" stores to department stores, but before large discount stores and malls gained overwhelming popularity. The department-store format in China is expected to experience 14% annual sales growth until 2010, according to Macquarie Research Equities.

The New Word in Home Sales: 'Canceled': Economists estimate that housing sales  contract-cancellation rates for big builders were running around 40% -- about twice as high as last year's levels. Anecdotally, real-estate professionals say they are seeing a similar dynamic in existing-home sales. With median new-home prices already 9.7% below last year's levels, bailing out now may be less painful than committing to an expensive, and possibly depreciating, investment.

WSJ By The Numbers - Metrics 2.0